How is it I'm always working for the Government?

Assignments came out today and this was the last client I thought I would be paired against, but my boss Todd, as soon as he saw the scope of work, said, "Right up your alley!"  So, if you remember the list of clients I posted the other day, I will be working for "The State Agency on Science, Innovation, and Informatization of Ukraine."  By the way, it's not a typo, it's spelled with a z.  The project title is called, "E-governance system concept," and the objective is to design an e-governance system concept to allow interaction between diversified databases and IT resources.  We have been advised that the concrete objective will be flushed out in the first few days after our arrival, so more details on that to come later.

You may be wondering what the blog title has to do with the assignment choice, but this will be the third government I have worked for.  Kinda cool if you ask me.  My first, was the U.S. government when I was an airman in the U.S. AirForce right out of high-school and I was working during the day and going to college at night.  The second was with the Australian government when I finished my Master's degree and I was working for the Embassy in Washington, D.C., and now I'll be working for the Ukranian government with this CSC assignment.  I can just hear the comments now in my head from my mentor at work, Brian, he'll have some "Bond Girl" reference, I'm sure.  If only I looked like a Bond Girl....you know, bikini wearing knife wielding sun-tanned, sea kissed 5' 10" girl, sadly I'm only 5' 8".

My team (OK, not mine but the one I'll be working on) has two other members - Shiva who is from India and Paul is from Australia.  When Shiva introduced himself to the team he mentioned that he's a strict vegetarian and that is his biggest concern going to Ukraine, will he be able to find enough vegetarian dishes.  Ukranian food appears to mix vegetables and meat together in one dish and that is right up my alley, it just might take the place of the Tex-Mex I probably wont get.  Besides having an Australian connection with Paul (for those who don't know I was born there and moved to the States when I was 13), he and I hit it off after I teased him about using all his annual vacation one year to visit not just Disney World in Florida, but Disneyland in California - yes you read that right - two Disney theme parks back to back at one time.  Who does that?  I don't think I know anyone who has ever gone to both parks in a lifetime let alone one right after the other. So I'm curious --- for those that have been to both - which is best, Disney World or Disneyland?

Did you know I don't like shopping?

I guess working from home (now known affectionately as "the Buda Conference Room") for seven years has really taken a toll on my wardrobe.  Rest assured (and despite what you all think), I am always dressed when I log into work or dial into calls; the truth is that I'm sitting in my workout gear till I can go for a walk outside or on the treadmill.  After I shower (yes more information then you'll ever want to know), I'm in jeans and a t-shirt.  That's it, nothing special.  I'm surprised, on the rare occasion that I do go into the IBM offices, that jeans and a nicer shirt can pass in a meeting.  Getting ready for this assignment has been a total SHOCK! and not just on my wallet either.  What exactly is business casual or as they say in Kyiv, Business Smart?  Where's the IBM handbook for that?  I'm going to have to find / make up some reasons to go into the office when I return just to get value out of all these clothes I've had to buy.  And when is the last time any of you saw me in makeup?  Well today, with the help of Sydney, I managed to find and buy what I hope is my last purchase, black flip flops.  I have spent what feels like a small fortune on pants and tops and what I find so ironic in all this, as you can imagine, is that my work productivity and my assessments aren't going to change when I put on a pair of high-heels - yes I bought some of those as well.  Sigh!

Well, when I start the assignment in seventeen days, one of my goals is to snap a picture of my wardrobe for the day along with the daily meal because I'm not sure I'm going to get Tex-Mex over there and I'm really hoping I can get some hot tea each day.  Have I mentioned that we're not supposed to drink the tap water, not even the water in the hotel?

We finally received our list of clients yesterday, two are co-sponsored by USAID and two are State Government Agencies.  Of course everyone on the team is trying to figure out which client we'll be assigned to, but those notices wont come out till next Monday - stay tuned.  Here are the clients:

Financial Sector Development Program, Banking University of the National Bank of Ukraine
Ukrainian Women's Fund
State Agency on Science, Innovations and Information of Ukraine
Institute of Informatics and Telecommunications, National University of Bioresources and Nature Management of Ukraine

Let the speculation start on which client I'll be working with, like I said, we'll find out Monday. 

This is for you Raschel...

This time last year I was applying for IBM's Corporate Service Corp program - a program "to help provide IBMers with high quality leadership development while delivering high quality problem solving for communities and organizations in emerging markets."  I never would have applied if it weren't for Randy who told me I'd regret not seizing an opportunity to live and work in another country, another culture.  I was selected for the program and in three weeks I leave family and friends to spend four weeks in Kyiv, Ukraine.  We'll see how supportive my husband is after four weeks of full time solo parenting...

There are 11 of us from IBM going to Kyiv - a couple of us from the States, two from Brazil, four from India, an Australian, a Malaysian, and a gal from China.  We have been meeting every Monday morning at 7:00 a.m. by phone to team build and prepare for our assignment.  It's a good thing I'm a morning person.  And NO, I still don't know exactly what I'll be doing yet, as soon as I know, I'll add it here.

For those of you who know me well and those of you who don't, I don't have a Facebook account and I don't Tweet; it's not my thing (if I want you to know something I'll tell you), but I'm going to try to do a blog and do it in honor of Raschel Wagstaff.  You see, Raschel has a Facebook account and I miss out on all the updates of her life - the good and the bad, and I promised I would do this for her.  So, that said, this blog will be live for about 8 weeks, so you better read it now cause I'm not promising it'll be on after that and don't expect a Facebook page to follow.